Shadows over Appalachia

Knoxville is in the shadowy, supernatural heart of the mountains. Here there be wolves.

Final Journal Entry, Part 2

10

FEB/12

Dear Mom and Dad,

You’ll probably find this Journal on the dining room table, because that’s where I left it. Someone’s gotta know where things ended up, and how much trouble we’re all in. I guess I ought to explain what happened from the beginning. Well, if you’ve read the rest of this, you know that Freedom was hurt real bad by this Blackwolf asshole. Yeah. We ended up back at Ironknife’s place to go over what we all learned. The upshot is this asshole REALLY IS trying to wake the dragon and bind his power to himself. This is epic, cataclysmic stuff. Like, End of the World As We Know It kind of deep shit. You probably remember the phone call I made Dad. I’d like to apologize for that, by the way. I was out of line, but I was under a lot of stress. Anyway, Ironknife and the others talked magic stuff, while I went out shopping. I bought 40 boxes of Roman Candles, a few cans of red spray paint, some velcro, a cheap tac vest, and some belts. Why? Well, I got this crazy idea that I’ll rig it all to look like Dynamite, and use that to distract all the bikers and Blackwolf. Or maybe just hug them until they burn more than me. I told you I was under some stress and not thinking.

Anyway, when I got back, I took them all to the house. I used the emergency ward key to get them in. Don’t worry, I’ll rehide it when we leave shortly, so it won’t be known to too many. Besides, Ironknife’s a good guy, and I’ll have him seal everything back up. It looks like ya’ll have been gone for a while. Hope we didn’t leave too much mess. Frankly, I just hope we’ll be back to clean it up at this point. Anyway, we did some research on how to kill this guy, since he’s way above our pay grade. I found the old story of St. George and the Dragon, and while that gave us the idea to use mistletoe (kill the unkillable, right), it didn’t lead anywhere else. Oh, and Annabelle whipped up a potion to dampen Freedom’s werewolf-ish-ness so that Blackwolf can’t do horrible things to her. I let everyone rummage through the lab for some supplies, and they got all goggle-eyed over the rather elaborate circle down there, but I shooed them away from it as best I could and we left.

We ended up going to the Sunsphere to ask for help. We really were in a bind, and well, it’s better to be fae toys for a while than to let the world explode. Rookie started feeling kind of ill, which is probably when I should have realized he still had some Winter Taint from that crazy box spirit, but…I was under a lot of stress. Anyway, they show us in…and the Crone of Summer is there. Shit just got very, very real. Now, I’m not much for the whole NeverNever thing, but I’m pretty sure we just got in over our heads EVENMORE. Weirdly, she was Extremely deferential to me and called me “Lord Oster”. Look, I sum up, ‘cause I don’t have much time. Rookie’s getting gun happy and Ironknife is rummaging around the house for “supplies”. I think he’s just poking around for no reason. Ultimately, we got the Crone to replace all the children that Blackwolf was planning on sacrificing with Changlings…hopefully temporarily, AND secured the services of a pixie guide to find Blackwolf.

While waiting for our guide, everyone started jabbering about “crazy magic power” in the circle. I told them to stay the hell away from it, but Freedom seems positive my “special power” is locked up in there. I don’t know what’s in there, but I’m pretty sure it’s not my Power Rangers Morpher. Whatever, not my business, but my friends are crazy. I guess that’s why I like ‘em. Well, our guide is here, and he’s gonna take us. I got my faux explosive vest full of Roman Candles, plenty of matches, and my trick cane. We’ll try and stop this bastard. I got a crazy, crazy idea to trick him into drinking that potion and turning him into a regular old wizard rather than a werewolf/wizard combo package. Wizards are powerful, but they bleed just like I do when shot. Or burned with Fireworks.

If we don’t make it back, let the White Council know what we’ve done, and that we tried to stop him. He’s determined to do this, and I don’t know how long our bargain with Summer will last once we’re dead. Seal the House, let loose all the magical guardians you have, and be safe. Tell my brother I miss him, and that I always looked up to him, even though I was mad at him being a wizard and me not getting my letter to Hogwarts, as it were. I love you both, and I’m sorry it had to end this way. No matter what happens, I at least went out trying to do some good.